Jewellery Quarter Gems

Explorations of Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter in which we start with a traditional mild before veering onto the craft murk and Indian street food in railway arches.

The Chamberlain clock and the Rose Villa Tavern in the background

Our first point of call was the Rock & Roll Brewhouse, who had placed a giant Elvis cut-out in the entrance to distract me from taking pictures of shiny brewing kit.

 
Rock & Roll Brewhouse (19 Hall Street, Hockley, B18 6BS)
Up the stairs is a wonderful quirky bar, generally open a grand total of 10-hours a week on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.
It's full of musical decorations, which shouldn't come as much surprise given the name.  We sat in an odd enclosed booth at the side, with gig tickets and posters on the wall, 7" singles stuck to the ceiling, and a repurposed drum as a table. 

There were three of their own brews on the bar, from which I picked a top-notch 'Voodoo Mild'.
I browsed the reading material and kept up-to-date with the latest music trends with the Melody Maker (May 23rd 1992, 65p).

That makes a change from the local CAMRA mag

Great pint of dark mild finished and the stage-diving great debate considered, it was time to move on to our next destination.
A short walk from the Rock n Rock brewery took us to the traditional environs of Black Country Ales' Jewellers Arms...

Jewellers Arms (23 Hockley Street, Birmingham, B18 6BW - web)

Black County Ales took over in 2017, adding their simple winning formula and picking up a  Birmingham CAMRA Pub of the Year award in 2021.
There's nothing not to like about it, except perhaps wishing there were a few more customers on our afternoon visit.  Fireplaces, red leather bench seating, fine carpet and an excellently kept pint of beer.   
My choice was a Muirhouse Brewery 'HDB' golden ale - not Scottish, as I'd originally guessed - but a Derbyshire brewer and a beer concocted for a charity football team.

Right - time to depart from the traditional pub and head to a bit of a hipster bar...

1000 Trades (16 Frederick Street, Hockley, B1 3HE - web)

The building was originally a jewellery workshop, until more recently it hosted a badge factory.  Now it's a neat bar with wooden floors and red brick walls, offering craft beer and displaying local art work.  The Roxy Music mural at the back was great.
My pick of the two cask beers had just gone off, so I veered to the keg 'Skywalker' NZ pale by Wye Valley.  Makes a change from Butty Bach.

We were unable to visit Burning Soul Brewery this time, on account of them being closed.  So instead, our search for local beers supped next to brewing kit took us down to the Utilita Arena, past the lego giraffe and into Somnar Brewery.

 

Somnar Brewing Company (Unit 3B, Birmingham Arena Canal Side, Birmingham, B1 2AA - web)
This was a long, narrow bar, high tables and artwork on one side, low tables and brewery equipment on the other.  The digital display advertised 17 draught beers (6 guests, the rest their own) and the thrill of seeing your Untappd check-in appear at the bottom of the screen.
I was pleased with my pick of a sensible strength, suitably murky, IPA.

June's shiny brewery equipment picture

We had time to fit in one more venue for the day before returning to Moor Street for our train home.  The Indian Brewery is somewhere that I've spotted before yet never made it to, so now seemed a good time for some food and drink in a railway arch.

Graffiti perhaps not 100% accurate in my case by this point in the day

Indian Brewery (Arch 16, Queensway Arches, 214 Livery Centre, Birmingham, B1 3EU - web)
The brewery itself is located nearby in Aston, with a decent selection of five of their beers available at Snow Hill, to suit differing tastes.  The dark stuff for me - a 'Shandon Stout', which would have benefited from being a couple of degrees warmer, in my humble opinion.

Long tables and benches are laid out through two arches, with a reasonable number of customers tucking into the food and drinks.  The trays of street food delivered to our table were delicious, bringing our day to a close (no room for any more beer afterwards...).

Now I just need to make a return trip and tick off Burning Soul Brewery.